Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly is pretty much over the whole debate process already and is lamenting the fact there are 13 more of these things that people like him in the media have to sit through (view clip). He did acknowledge that the most recent debate had a few moments of excitement, such as when Mitt Romney refused to apologise for having provided healthcare to the people of Massachusetts and even flaunted the fact that Massachusetts has the lowest number of children with health insurance to, of all people, Rick Perry, who has an impeccable conservative record of leaving children who are poor to figure out their own healthcare arrangements (presumably, to teach them an early lesson in the art of self reliance). Interestingly, even after this exchange, Romney remains the frontrunner, which probably accounts for O'Reilly's lament that the whole nominating process is not over already.

The only good thing about the inevitable Romney candidacy is that, even though he remains unpopular among many Republicans, and is particularly loathsome to conservatives, he still has a fairly decent chance of beating President Obama.

The Republican party knows that independent voters are much more likely to vote for Romney than they are for Herman Cain and independent voters will decide the general election. According to a new Pew poll, independents now favor Romney over President Obama 54% to 41/%. The Republican party desperately wants not only to win the White House, but the Senate as well, thereby totally controlling the agenda in Washington. If that happens next year, say goodbye to Obamacare: it will be repealed faster than the Boston Red Sox fell apart last month. Also taxes will be lowered, federal spending will be cut and Nancy Pelosi will be distraught and confused. That's the scenario the Republican establishment want – and they believe Romney is their best hope.

If the price of achieving this dream scenario is a lacklustre president whom most Republicans don't want, O'Reilly thinks that is a price worth paying.

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity is taking some comfort from the fact that although Romney is likely to take the top job, there is a chance that one of his favorites, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, may at least have a shot at the VP slot, thanks to his timely endorsement of the frontrunner (view clip).

"You were asked repeatedly today about whether or not you'd consider being his running mate and you said, quote, 'That's not a decision I have to think about right now. I cannot imagine it happening.' I can imagine it happening!"

Christie reiterated that he simply cannot imagine this happening and that the office of vice president is not something you can run for, anyway. It's up to the candidate who he wants to pick, though ultimately that might suit Christie better, in that he could land the second-to-top job without putting in any leg work. Christie told Hannity that one of the reasons he thinks so many prominent Republicans were pushing him to run for president was because of his record in New Jersey, where he has done things Republicans approve of, like laying off lots of public service workers, cutting funding on services to the poor and elderly, slashing funding in public schools and making sure teachers don't get comfortable, eliminating regulations on businesses and the environment and, most importantly, not raising taxes on the rich.

Hannity was as impressed with the governor's record as the governor himself was, but steered the conversation back to his reasons for endorsing the frontrunner Romney and his opinion of the other candidates.

Now, I think you went out of your way today. This isn't an indictment against the other candidates; you just chose Governor Romney. If any of the other candidates were to emerge and to win the nomination, would you support any of them? He [Romney] certainly has maintained his consistency more than anyone else in the polls. Congresswoman Bachmann went up; she's kind of fallen back a little bit. Rick Perry surged and he's fallen back a bit. Right now, Cain is surging. What do you think of Herman Cain and his candidacy, considering he's doing so well at this moment?

Christie responded that all the candidates had their 15 minutes, but he believes (indeed, he stated it in different ways about 10 times during the interview) that beating President Obama was the top priority and, in his view, Mitt Romney, with his Wall Street background and executive experience, has the best chance of doing that. He didn't think Cain was adequately qualified for the top job because running the country requires a more complete skill set than running a business. He was also a little disappointed in Rick Perry for drawing attention to Romney's being a Mormon, but he hoped that Perry would make amends for that.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is still gunning for the more conservative candidates and is not yet ready to resign himself to the inevitable (see Limbaugh's debate analysis). His current personal favorite is Godfather's Pizza mogul Herman Cain because of his tough stance on the Wall Street protesters (Cain thinks the unemployed have only themselves to blame), and because his "9-9-9 plan" would lower taxes for people like Limbaugh and force the poor to cough up their fair share.

What Limbaugh found most frustrating about the debate, however, were the actual questions, which all sounded to him like they came "right off of some kook fringe blog on the left" – such as when Michele Bachmann was asked if she thought any of the Wall Street bankers should have gone to jail. Bachmann responded that the bankers weren't responsible for the financial collapse; rather, it was people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who pushed through the post collapse Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (pdf). Limbaugh was thrilled that the narrative that has been gaining traction in his circles since the rapid and alarming growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement – that the banks or "Wall Street" did not make the bad loans because it was profitable for them, but only because the government and the far left forced them to – had finally got some mainstream attention, even if mainstreamers failed to understand it.

That's right on the money! And she [Bachmann] said that in 44 seconds. Brevity is the soul of wit. Bang, bang: get in, get it, and get out – and she did. And the look on [moderator] Karen Tumulty's face was one of total vacancy, deer in the headlights. She had no idea what Michele Bachmann was talking about.

Limbaugh found Newt Gingrich's follow up answer even more interesting, as he went further than Bachmann and suggested that it is Dodd and Frank who should be sent to jail.

They [the mainstream media] know it [that Wall Street is not responsible for Wall Street], and what infuriates me is that they continue with the lie. They continue with the myth, for the express purpose of trying to trip up these Republicans and make 'em look like cold-hearted, uncaring-about-people Republican candidates who "only want to support the rich". That's what infuriates me. That's why I love Newt's answer to this, and it's why I like Bachmann's answer. But the truth is not enough. Because after this debate's over, these people in the media continue to spread this lie – and they continue the construct that Republicans are a bunch of fringe kooks who don't care about people!

It won't be an easy sell to convince the American people, especially those who have lost their homes and jobs, that Wall Street had no hand in their misfortune, but clearly, Limbaugh and his fellow conservatives think it's worth a try.